The purpose of the proposed project is to analyze and synthesize the findings of several major recent studies of the career development of physicians that have produced information concerning the factors affecting specialty choice and practice location. More specifically, the project 1) critically analyze the reported results of the AAMC and Project TALENT longitudinal studies of physicians and the Division of Medicine study of location decisions to identify areas of apparent agreement and disagreement, areas where results are not directly comparable, and areas where some further analysis would yield comparable results; 2) obtain specified variables from the AAMC Longitudinal Study Data Bank and to conduct further analyses of the AAMC, TALENT, and Division of Medicine data, where possible, so as to render the results comparable and thus clarify the areas of agreement and disagreement; 3) obtain assistance of AAMC staff in acquiring the necessary data, planning the analyses, and interpreting both the original findings and results of any new analyses based upon the AAMC Longitudinal Study data; and 4) prepare a report that will compare the findings of these and previous studies and will evaluate the resultant state of knowledge with regard to the predictors of specialty choice and practice location, including the policy implications of this knowledge and areas for further research.